Trying On Torres

I was recently contacted by the rather lovely Scottish designer Rebecca Torres, who recently won the award for Best E-Commerce Site at the BT Scotland Young Entrepreneur Awards. I've written about Rebecca on here before and it's been amazing watching the designer grow her label so steadily and consistently. Her work can now be found on ASOS, as well as in her own shop.

She sent me some things to try and whilst normally I'd run a mile from body-con silhouttes, Rebecca's have such an infectious charm about them I had to set aside my sartorial discomfort and give them a try. I've photographed the lovely JacQ dress, with it's contrasting coloured panels and black spandex bottom. In reality, it wasn't very tight on me anyway so I didn't feel too self conscious wearing it.

I also caught up with the designer and asked her a few probing questions.

Firstly, let me congratulate you on
winning 'Best E-Commerce Site' at this years BT Scotland Young Entrepreneur
Awards. You must be thrilled!

Thank you! It was a
great night and I was honored to have won. Especially with the website being
only one year old.

I feel that in recent years Scotland has
gradually become a little more supportive of its homegrown talent. Do you feel
the support was there for you when you first started out?

When I started out I
did feel alone and unsure about how to conduct my business in an effective way but
that was partly due to not being aware of what was available to me both as a
young designer but as a business as well. Having carried out some research, I
soon realized that there is support out there but you have to make yourself
known to these organizations otherwise how can you get help?

I have had great
support from YBS (Youth Business Scotland) and from SDI (Scottish Development
International) and also recently from Fashion Foundry. If I have something I
need help with they are always sure to put me in the right direction. Plus it’s
just good to have people who are connected to the industry for advice.

Your label is still a fledging one but
you are already stocked in ASOS. How did that come about?

My label is still
young in comparison to other brands and getting stocked on ASOS was a great
achievement as the brand was completely unknown to them. It came about very quickly, I had sent my
latest collection to an agency in London who had shown an interest in my work
and they passed it onto the buyer, within a couple of weeks the collection had
been bought, it all happened so fast.
Since being stocked I have been able to work for asos own branded
collections and designed a few pieces that went into production for their petite
range, this has been an invaluable experience for me.

You seem very passionate about exploring
the figure hugging, ultra-femme silhouette. What is it about those shapes that
appeals to you?

What appeals to me is
how wearing those silhouettes make a woman feel. When you’re wearing something
that is a feminine silhouette you immediately feel more womanly and sexy. The
panels I create on these garments are to extenuate that on the figure giving it
more shape or in some cases creating an illusion. Every
woman has something that they don’t like about themselves and if you can create
a garment that hides or masks that by using cleverly placed colour and shapes
and it still being body-con, then you're onto a winner.

Who is the ideal Rebecca Torres woman?

I believe the Rebecca
Torres woman can be anyone, I don’t like to create an “ideal person”. If someone
can take my garment and wear it in there own way then…great! This might sound
clichéd but I like the idea of empowering women, of all shapes and sizes.

Is there anyone you'd love to design
something specifically for? A muse perhaps?

There are many women
that I think would look great in one of my designs, but if I had to narrow it
down I would love to dress someone like Juliette Lewis…maybe create a few stage
pieces for her. I like her personality, her boldness. There is something
attractive about her persona. Also Beyoncé …but who wouldn’t want to design for
her, she has a great figure!

Where do you seek inspiration when you
are approaching a new collection?

I believe that when
creating something new it is important that you approach it in whatever way
feel’s most organic. Actually trying to discover what process works best for me
from a designing perspective was a very cathartic experience. I very rarely
research specific trends or looks, preferring to try and find inspiration from
many different areas, Film, music but equally moments in my life or places. I
think that we pick up so much sub-consciously from our surroundings and
experiences that there’s no need to try and force it.

Finally, since I love music, I have to
probe you about what you're listening to at the moment. What gets you dancing?

That’s a good
question, actually for my last solo show I gave away Cassette tapes of the
soundtrack to the show (not that I’m condoning piracy) but I love when people
share what music they love. My tastes shift, but closest to my heart is
Electronic and disco music, Just now I’m listening to an album by a collective
called Ruth my friend Anna put me onto them, they only every released one album
in 1985 then disappeared but it’s a great album its called
Polaroid/Roman/Photo. Honestly check it out you will not be disappointed.